My Goal for the New Year...Quoted in Forbes

Forbes columnist Rob Asghar has a new article titled "A Novel Tip for Making Smarter Predictions," where he announces my goal to read more novels in 2018:

"I'll admit that I'm coming to see the value of such an approach, but for years, I resisted it," says Anthony W. Orlando, an economist and author based at USC’s Price School of Public Policy. "I figured, when trying to figure out what will happen, is it really the best use of my time to read a bunch of things that didn't happen? But I've committed now to reading more of the fiction classics in the coming year."Indeed, Emerson seemed to have gotten it right when he observed, "Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures." Know the great stories, know the great characters, and you will know more than what any grand theory or quasi-scientific model can tell you about human behavior and human society."An increasing body of evidence," Orlando tells me, "suggests that reading fiction -- and more generally, studying the humanities -- is associated with improved brain function in a variety of contexts. It's a little like meditation. At first, it may seem counterproductive to our busy Western approach to work. But with a little practice, there might be real scientific benefits that we can unlock by training our minds to think a little differently."

Click here to read the whole article.